Fullerton’s $100,000 Pension Club Welcomes 15 New Members

It’s been almost a year since we published the original list of retired Fullerton public employees earning over $100,000 per year in pensions.

Since then we have learned that our state’s unfunded pension liability has grown to over $500 billion dollars. Our Friends over at California Pension Reform have updated their list of CalPERS pensions, bringing on fifteen new “hundred grand” members from Fullerton this year. That’s an increase of 40% in a single year.

So let’s see who is getting the most from largess from taxpayers. New members are in bold:

Name

Annual Pension

Position

JAMES “JIM” REED

$166,781.88

Fire

GEOFFREY SPALDING

$149,852.88

Police

GREGORY MAYES

$148,889.40

Police

MICHAEL MAYNARD

$140,317.20

Police

DANIEL CHIDESTER

$139,416.72

Fire

FRANK PAUL DUDLEY

$133,821.00

Development Services Director

ALLEN BURKS

$133,782.36

Police

DOUGLAS CAVE

$130,761.36

Police

GLENN STEINBRINK

$127,533.00

Administrative Director

ANTONIO HERNANDEZ

$127,402.20

Police

H SUSAN HUNT

$126,970.80

Director of Park and Recreation

STEVEN MATSON

$126,430.68

Police

RONNY ROWELL

$125,168.40

Police

TERRY STRINGHAM

$123,482.28

Fire

GEORGE NEWMAN

$121,410.60

RICHARD RILEY

$121,113.36

MARK FLANNERY

$120,934.68

Director of Personnel

DAVID STANKO

$120,279.84

Police

ROBERT HODSON

$119,956.08

Director of Engineering

ROBERT “BOB” RICHARDSON

$119,720.88

Police

PATRICK MCKINLEY

$118,446.48

Chief of Police

DANIEL BECERRA

$116,917.20

Police

NEAL BALDWIN

$116,740.68

Police

PHILIP GOEHRING

$115,076.04

Police

BRAD HOCKERSMITH

$115,053.84

Fire

JEFFREY ROOP

$113,618.88

Police

KURT BERTUZZI

$109,255.08

Fire

LINDA KING

$108,168.84

Police

DONALD “DON” PEARCE

$107,972.76

Police

CAROLYN JOHNSON

$107,179.80

Library Director

TIMOTHY JANOVICK

$106,330.44

PAUL TURNEY

$105,747.12

RONALD “RON” GILLETT

$105,499.56

Police

ARTHUR WIECHMANN

$104,153.76

Police

JONATHON “JON” MCAULAY

$102,034.80

Fire

RICHARD HUTCHINSON

$101,822.16

JOHN PIERSON

$101,524.92

HUGH BERRY

$100,488.84

Assistant City Manager

WILLIAM KENDRICK

$100,194.48

Police

Remember… public employee pensions are negotiated between the unions and our city council. It’s time to figure out who has been representing the taxpayers and who has been sticking up for the unions.

as a fullerton lifer, Carolyn Johnson did a lousy job as library director. Compared to the anaheim library system, fullerton’s library had a funky online card catalogue that always neccessitated asking the reference librarian for help in finding books, new and or controversial books took their time getting to our library’s shelves while there was no shortage of 1930′s British “who done it” mystery novels available to the transients who roosted in the library.
My criticism of our library is a moot point since the advent of the internet, kindle and amazon.com makes libraries as necessary to us as buggy whips. though most people don’t use libraries anymore, the taxpayer will still need to pay dinosaur Johnson’s pension.

We have GOT to put an end to this type of back room dealing to spike public employees pensions. I do not believe it is the fault of our public employees. Who wouldn’t take a six-figure pension for life? We need to focus on our elected officials who sell their votes to the unions in order to remain “in power”. Get a real job outside of politics you losers. That might better prepare you to govern.

Being more familiar with the people and the roles they played in both of our school districts; please consider adding the same list for the CalSTRS $100,000 club members. That list includes notables like the destroyer of the California Constitution himself, Cameron McCune at $243,905 a year. The list also includes a child psychologist who reinvented himself into a voracious tax dollar wasting Decepticon otherwise known as Director of Information Services at $141,939 a year. That list includes just shy of $3 million of annual pensions among twenty four $100K+ club members.

Hey guys I appreciate the ire that is directed towards those that get these pensions. Would it be possible to list the years of service to Fullerton by their names? Not that I think they all deserve it but if someone spends 30 years in the Fire department saving lives, maybe $100K isnt as bad as someone who comes in for 5 years from another agency to spike their pensions.

Also, on a positive note, can we see a list of those folks that have served for many years and arent sucking at the public trough? I am sure you have to have some Pension Heros on there that served for 20 – 30 years and arent taking much more than any person would in the private sector. I would love to highlight any true Public Servants that have come through the city. What do you say?

The point of the post is not to slam the individuals who are receiving the pensions. Obviously I am slamming individuals whom I specifically mention, but the point of the post is to highlight the absolute insanity of the dollars involved. I would agree that pension spiking behavior is bad, but what is really bad is the inbred nature of our public compensation system. I’m so sick of people saying things like, “spends 30 years in the Fire department saving lives…” as though that person were more important than the baker who feeds people or the painter who preserves our homes. I know a lot of Fireman and I don’t know a single one who took the job because he wanted to sacrifice. They sought those jobs because they are awesome, fulfilling, high paying careers. Those jobs should be paid based upon market conditions same as every other job in the private sector. It is this kind of entitlement thinking that has gotten us to this tragic point.

Annon, it’s safe to assume that all of these pensioners put in the full 30 years, for which they were fully compensated.

The problem is that we still don’t know how much that 30 years of service will ultimately cost us taxpayers. You see, when the deals were made, our foolhardy representatives were deceived and lied to by the union, CalPERS staff and our own accountants as to the ultimate cost of these benefit packages.

Now it’s 2010 and the truth is coming out. The bill is much larger than we ever conceived. So large, in fact, that it may ultimately bankrupt our government.

We were tricked. This is a list of the beneficiary’s of the deception. Whether they like it or not, their compensation is public record and we deserve to know the ultimate cost of for their service.

They are not all pompous hose jockeys Edna. Many of them are very cool guys who cannot even themselves believe what they are paid. This is the voters fault. Not the fireman’s fault. I support capitalism and it predictable by that philosophy that the fireman would seek the highest compensation possible. We are the jackasses who did not fight harder to elect people who act as the employers of public employees and not as the whores of public employees.

Chris, you bring up a good point. I like to kid with my firefighter friends that the FD is the rec club of employment with their countless BBQ’s, La-Z-Boys, gyms, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the fire houses had hot tubs. Sometimes someone will speak up and say something like “you couldn’t stomache the sights they have to see, the carnage” etc. The fire department and police departments have NEVER had dificulty recruiting. There is always an endless supply of qualified candidates even though the departments keep raising their arguable standards. Think supply and demand. There is no shortage of demand so why raise the salaries and pensions so high?

another anon , I earned a masters degree and have put in 25 years. I can’t retire for another 10 years and maybe I will get a $50,000/year pension, maybe not since it took a big hit due to wall street raiding it.

Therein lies the problem Mr. Thompson: This is not capitalism. No where in the constitution are we afforded the right to have a fire fighter and their services. I would much rather pay for the service rather than have it assumed that I want the service.

Add to that:

There is typically MANY more applicants for a Fire Fighting position than the one position offered. I am willing to bet if we paid minimum wage there would still be MANY that would want to operate as a fireman. That would be capitalism.

Right. The laws of supply and demand suggest that when a job opening creates a half-mile long line, the job is paying way too much. Unfortunately our “fiscal conservatives” on the City Council cannot grasp that. Maybe it’s because four of them are current or former government employees.